Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi was left to rue the legacy of untimely injuries and wayward shooting after his side's Confederations Cup challenge came to an end in a 3-0 loss to Spain.
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The African champions needed to win Sunday's game to stand any chance of squeezing into the semifinals, but Spain took the honours through a pair of goals from left-back Jordi Alba and a Fernando Torres header.
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Prior to the defeat, Nigeria had beaten Tahiti 6-1 before losing 2-1 to Uruguay – a law of diminishing returns in keeping with a pre-tournament run in which they had scored only six times in six matches.
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Keshi's side played attractive football at times at Fortaleza's Estadio Castelao and created a clutch of clear-cut chances, only for their forwards' composure to desert them at the crucial moment.
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Brown Ideye and substitute Muhammad Gambo both spurned good opportunities in the second half, and Keshi said that Nigeria's failure to convert such chances had cost them dearly.
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"There's so much anxiety in front of the goal-line when we get there," he said.
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"The good thing is we create chances, but we're not finishing them. That's something we need to work on. Hopefully it's going to come quickly."
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Keshi said his players had become "unprofessional" after Torres doubled Spain's lead shortly after coming on as a 60th-minute substitute, but he admitted that the injuries that have afflicted his squad were beyond his control.
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Nigeria lost Victor Moses, Emmanuel Emenike and Ogenyi Onazi prior to the tournament, while Nnamdi Oduamadi was injured against Uruguay and centre- back Kenneth Omeruo had to go off with an injury against Spain.
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"You look at the other teams in the tournament, and they have a complete XI of first-team players here," he said.
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"I lost four, five key players in the team at the last minute. And today I lost one of my key players at centre-half, which is damaging. But it's football. You have to live with it."
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Spain advance to a semifinal with Italy in the same arena on Thursday, but Keshi said he did not know if the world champions had a stronger chance of success in the tournament than Group A winners Brazil.
I agree with the injuries part because I would have loved for Victor Moses and Emmanuel Emenike to be there. They are great players.